Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook "Jack" Vancewas an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote 9 mystery novels using his full name John Holbrook Vance, three under the pseudonym Ellery Queen, and one each using the pseudonyms Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See, and Jay Kavanse. Some editions of his published works give his year of birth as 1920...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth28 August 1916
CitySan Francisco, CA
CountryUnited States of America
How to know, oh how to know! All is relative ease and facility in orthodoxy, yet how can it be denied that good is in itself undeniable? Absolutes are the most uncertain of all formulations, while the uncertainties are the most real...
If there were no such creatures as minstrel-maidens, it would be necessary to invent them.
The less a writer discusses his work and himself the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.
Count me not your friend but the enemy of your enemies.
What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace and egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men.
You used the word "civilization", which means a set of abstractions, symbols, conventions. Experience tends to be vicarious; emotions are predigested and electrical; ideas become more real than things.
I thought that automobiles were going to have mufflers and go fast and airplanes were going to fly fast.
I never worked in an office in my life.
I just wrote what I felt like writing since they seemed to sell.
I got done writing Ports of Call and suddenly realized I have far too much material for the book.
But I've sure worked at jobs where I have been under inspection.
A reader is not supposed to be aware that someone's written the story. He's supposed to be completely immersed, submerged in the environment.
As I mentioned, I was a carpenter for a time.
I suffer from a spiritual malaise which manifests itself in outbursts of vicious rage.